Three lifelong residents of New Orleans delivered a clear reminder to "stay active" during a panel discussion, "Katrina: One Year Later," held Aug 31 at Cornell. They also urged that concerted efforts be made to bring back more evacuees so that New Orleans will retain its primarily black identity.

About 60 people attended the Uris Hall event, which launched a yearlong fund-raising campaign headed by the Cornell Black Professional Women's Forum and Cornell's Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy. All funds collected for the Katrina Relief Fund will be distributed to community organizations that provide direct relief efforts to families and others in need within the city of New Orleans.

The panelists included Al Harris, who led successful efforts to overturn the Archbishop of New Orleans' decision to close St. Augustine's Catholic Church in the black community of Treme, La., the oldest Catholic church in the South; Kimberly Richards, organizer of the People's Institute of Survival and Beyond; and community activist Dyan French, known as "Mamma D," who has protested government responses to Hurricane Katrina as inadequate.

French said action is still important, even a year after the devastating storm left more than half of New Orleans residents, mainly black, without homes, forcing many to be evacuated to other cities. She also emphasized the measures needed to bring the people of New Orleans back to their homes.

All panelists expressed the belief that greater efforts and funds are needed to include the people of New Orleans in the city's rebuilding and planning. Some speculated that a "rebuilt New Orleans" will no longer be a "black city."

"This [Katrina] gives us another opportunity to talk about how we've been socialized, in racial ways," said Richards. "It wasn't the storm. It was the neglect over a long period of time that was exposed."

Justin Davis '07, co-president of Cornell's Black Students United, who also spoke, worked with other Cornell students to organize the Katrina on the Ground campaign during spring break 2006. The national effort brought black college students to New Orleans to assist in recovery and relief efforts.

"We, as concerned students, teamed up for the Katrina on the Ground project," said Davis. "We sent people down to New Orleans to help ourselves and our people."

Davis also expressed frustration and concerns about what he called the ongoing neglect and mistreatment of the black community within New Orleans. Davis urged students to continue to take part in the efforts to help those most affected by the storm. A video of the Katrina on the Ground project, as well as still images from that project, were on view following the panel presentation.

For more information on the Katrina Relief Fund, e-mail katrinafund@cornell.edu.

Graduate student Sandra Holley is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.